Massacre exposes Facebook’s lack of control … again

By Joe Dwinell | [email protected] | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: March 15, 2019 at 8:15 pm | UPDATED: March 15, 2019 at 8:15 pm Facebook, designed to connect friends, has become a platform for lunatics, with another deranged killer using it Friday to livestream the slaughter of 49 worshipers at two mosques in New Zealand. The nearly 17-minute video shows 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant of Australia entering a mosque and immediately firing multiple shots while walking through the halls gunning people down as they tried to run away. Officials said he used five firearms — two semiautomatic rifles, two shotguns and a “lever-action firearm.” Some worshipers hid in corners covering their heads while the shooter fired off several rounds and then reloaded. One courageous man is also seen rushing at the shooter only to be shot down by the killer. Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites frantically attempted to wipe the video from their sites, but clips of the massacre taped for all the world to gasp at were easily seen online Friday night. Facebook said in a statement that New Zealand police notified them of the livestream and the company “quickly removed both the shooter’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and the video.” It was too late. The brutal video shows the shooter giving no mercy to the victims, once again demonstrating the lack of control Facebook has on its freewheeling site. “This video will go forever on the web, I hate to say,” said David Gerzof Richard, a professor of… [Read full story]